1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telephony technology. More specifically, the present invention relates to mechanisms for integrating telephone calls with notification of context information for the telephone call to thereby allow for more informed decision making on whether or not to answer a telephone call, and regarding the circumstances surrounding the declining of the telephone call if declined.
2. Background and Relevant Art
The ability to communicate is an essential need common to all of humankind. The telephone is considered one of the most important advances in communication technology as it enabled individuals to engage in real-time verbal conversations over vast distances. Modem advances have enabled telephone conversations over more than traditional analog telephones and analog telephone networks. Telephone conversations are now possible over analog and digital mobile telephones. Furthermore, telephone conversations are possible using computers using a technology called Voice over IP (or VoIP for short). In this modem era, many other forms of communication have been developed including, for example, facsimile, e-mail, instant message, and others. Each form of communication has its distinct advantages and disadvantages.
Telephone calls are advantageous as they enable real-time voice conversations, which are considered more intuitive forms of communication as they simulate the audio of a face-to-face conversation, without the two parties being physically proximate. However, telephone calls can be quite invasive. Traditionally, a callee often had no information regarding a telephone call before deciding whether or not to answer the call. Caller ID is a technology that informs the callee of the telephone number (and sometimes the associated caller identity). This technology has proved quite popular as it allows the callee to identify the caller. The callee may thus make a more informed decision regarding whether or not to accept the call.
However, even with caller ID, the callee often still has no idea what the caller wants to talk about, how important the caller considers the call, or whether the call is work related or personal. This information would be quite helpful for the callee to make an informed decision regarding whether or not to accept the call. Furthermore, if the callee declines the call, the caller is left to wonder why the call was declined.
Of course, there are ways of letting people know context of a telephone call. These ways usually involve a separate communication of some type. For example, a caller may in advance talk with the callee to let them know of the purpose for an anticipated future call. Alternatively, a user may send an instant message indicating the subject or importance of a telephone call that the caller plans to make or is making. However, these mechanisms require a separate communication, which is a significant incremental time cost. Since wasting of time is one of the biggest concerns associated with answering an unwanted telephone call or answering a desired telephone call at an improper time, this incremental time cost can be quite intolerable.
Furthermore, the declining of a telephone call can itself cause unwanted messages. For example, the declining of a telephone call may communicate to the caller that the callee considers the caller to be unimportant, thereby sometimes leaving the caller to feel ignored, particularly if the caller knows the callee to be available to answer the call. This may also leave the caller in an uncomfortable position of wondering when the caller's concern will be addressed.
Therefore, what would be advantageous are mechanisms for providing more informative context for a telephone call (or the declining of a telephone call) without the significant incremental cost of establishing a separate communication regarding the telephone call.